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Looking ahead
Understanding and overcoming the challenges facing those who live on the margins of the economy in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
is essential. Many profound changes are sweeping across these regions with grave consequences for food security. Reversing the
trend of widespread poverty will depend on adopting appropriate policies, for which information is vital. The search for solutions to
endemic poverty and hunger, instead of stopping at the farm gate, should involve result-oriented socioeconomic studies of the farmer,
village, and institutional systems if sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are to have a future worth looking forward to.
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Assessing the changes and the associated evolution
of agricultural investment in the Semi-Arid Tropics
(SAT) through Village-Level Studies (VLS) could
provide valuable insights for future agricultural
development planning and lead to public good. Such
studies were pioneered by ICRISAT in 1975, wherein
villages were used as real world laboratories. The
resulting unique data sets provide the analytical
power to bring about a better understanding of
development in African and Indian SAT.
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VLS Objectives
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To monitor existing farm practices in order to help assess research priorities
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To help agrobiological scientists develop technologies relevant to the farming community
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To generate a databank for a broad range of socioecononomic enquiries
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Hypotheses Tested
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Economic and environmental causes of existing cultivation practices
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Seasonal pattern of resource availability
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Consumption and nutritional status of low-income population groups
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Impact of risk and uncertainty on farmers' behavior and adoption of new technologies
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Marketing and consumer acceptance problems
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Group action issues
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Income and benefits from technology
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Major Findings in Africa
Technology
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The rate and impact of the adoption of new technology varied with ethnic groups
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Investment in new technology was made without seriously disturbing existing patterns of investment
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Flexibility in the timing of labor demands was a highly-valued attribute of any crop technology in Burkina Faso
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Labor and Gender issues
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Animal-drawn weeding equipment has the potential to raise labor productivity significantly
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A large household labor force means dividing tending costs and large-scale conduct of nonmechanized farm operations
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Land
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There was a marked differential access to land by different ethnic groups
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Substantial inefficiencies in the tenancy market
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Risk
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The efficiency of traditional strategies of risk reduction were reduced over time,thus limiting cropped area and the potential for large livestock holdings
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Health and Nutrition
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Nutrition programs aimed at children may be an efficient means of directing seasonal food supplements to high-risk households
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